


Ghosts That We Knew

by laceysdesai



Category: Twisted (TV)
Genre: F/M, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Loss
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-03
Updated: 2014-02-03
Packaged: 2018-01-07 21:59:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1124862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laceysdesai/pseuds/laceysdesai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lacey receives some earth shattering news, and watches helplessly as Danny falls apart at the seams.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ghosts That We Knew

**Author's Note:**

> This has taken quite a bit of time to write, so I've decided to break it up into three parts. Hopefully, I'll be able to post all three parts before the 11th of February. For a better understanding of my mindset while writing this, go on youtube and search "Ghosts that We Knew- Mumford & Sons". If you don't really feel like listening to their music (or if you're unable to), I encourage you to google the lyrics, though I don't think it captures the same experience without the melody. I hope you enjoy!

The news of his death broke in the cruelest of ways: in the form of a text that sounded far too much like 'he said, she said'. The initial shock hit like a ton of bricks and knocked the air from her lungs. Her teeth latched into her bottom lip, fighting the urge to sigh in sympathetic grief. She never knew much about the man, aside from what Danny told her and what she briefly witnessed with her own eyes as a child. With their latest discovery, all she could attempt to feel for the man was honest contempt. It wasn't on her behalf, of course not. He'd never done anything to her, personally. But she also knew that the act he often put on in the presence of company was sugarcoated. 

The phone rang. 

         And rang.

                      And rang.

_You've reached Danny Desai, leave a message at the tone! I promise I won't come to your house and murder you in your sleep. It's not my M.O._

_***Beep***_

"Hey," her voice sounded raw and scratchy. She hoped he didn't think she'd been crying, "I--It's me. I heard the news. Um...call me? When you get this? Yeah...Bye."

He was absent from school the following day, as expected. But the whispers of his name seemed to rise above all the noise of the crowd, making up for his lack of presence. She could feel the eyes on her as she passed and she kept her own cast down. She didn't want to be their source of information. She knew very little about the incident, anyway.

People murmured about "patricide," but she tuned them out. They weren't there. They didn't know the whole story. And as angry as Danny was at his father...as much as Mr. Desai deserved that anger, Lacey knew that his return sparked the smallest glimmer of hope within the boy. His smile was just a tiny bit brighter, his eyes were a little more youthful. As if, even for a moment, the last five years of his life were just a vague memory. She knew, though he didn't voice it himself, that Danny hoped things would go back to the way they were. He'd told her countless times that it was dangerous to hope, but maybe...just maybe for once he felt differently.

And just as quickly as his hope returned, it was dashed out with nothing left but smoke and the concrete promise that things were never going to change. 

He returned to school the next day as if nothing happened. And it continued the next day, and the day after. The number of condolences and pats on the shoulder slowly ceased, as Danny shook off people's words as mere formalities. Every so often, he'd pass her in the halls, and she could see the purple bruises under his eyes from lack of sleep. Despite the smile he plastered on his face in her presence, she knew right away that it was all a front. 

"Can you just...talk to me?" she asked after cornering him outside of the diner.

"I am talking to you," he replied coolly with a smirk.

"You know what I mean."

"I don't know what you want me to say."

Lacey bit down on her lower lip and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, "Holding this in isn't going to help you."

He clenched his jaw. She exhaled sharply.

"Holding what in?" He shrugged, "He's dead. It is what it is. All this time I thought he was dead anyway, at least I know for sure now. Good riddance, I guess. No loose ends."

"You don't mean that."

"I don't?"

He shoved his hands in his pockets and let out a bitter chuckle.

"I don't get why everyone expects me to cry in front of them. I just-- I can't cry for someone who didn't give enough of a shit about me to see me while I was away, or even tell me..."

He drifted off and bit down hard on the corner of his mouth. Lacey waited patiently, with bated breath.

"I just gotta move on. I was able to do it before. I've been able to get along fine without him. I'll survive," the brunet concluded with another shrug. 

Lacey softened her tone and took a step towards him, making sure to choose her words carefully. She thought about wrapping her arms around him, if even for a moment. But the conversation didn't seem appropriate for such a gesture.

"He was your father. You can't just keep avoiding it like...like it didn't matter. I know that I don't know what you're going through and--"

"That's the thing. You don't know what I'm going through. So I'd appreciate it if you'd **stop trying** to police the way I react to my own fath-- _his_ death," Danny sharply replied between clenched teeth, "Alright?"

Lacey parted her lips, and then closed them with a small nod, "I'm sorry."

"It's whatever," he ran his fingers through his hair and adjusted the backpack on his shoulder. Without a second glance, he turned his back and made the trek in the opposite direction, "I'll see you around." 


End file.
